Botany
Annual, erect, branching, smooth herb, 1 meter or more in height. Leaves, variable in shape, usually ovate-lanceolate, up to 23 cm in length, 8 cm wide. Flowers are in pannicles or spikes; of varied colors, white, yellow, purple or shades of red. Seeds, minute, black, shining, and lens-shaped.

Distribution
Ornamental cultivation; rarely spontaneous.

Properties
Considered antibacterial, anthelmintic, astringent, haemostatic, hypotensive, ophthalmic.

Parts used
Bark, leaves, flowers.

Uses
Culinary
Edible: Tender leaves and young shoots occasionally eaten as vegetable.
Folkloric
No reported medicinal folkloric use in the Philippines.
In other countries, seeds used for emollient lotions for eye problems.
Flowers and seeds used for bloody stools, hemorrhoidal bleeding, and diarrhea.
Flowers used for menorrhagia.
Seeds are used for dysuria, coughs, dysentery, hypertension.
In India, seeds are used for dysuria and flowers for diarrhea.
In Indian folk medicine, used for treatment of diabetes mellitus.
In Mexico, considered antiscorbutic and antiblennorrhagic.
Others
Flowers in popular use for the making of wreaths for All Saint's Day.

Studies
• Betaxanthins / Colorant Property: Study isolated three betaxanthins. The yellow inflorescences exhibited bright yellow color with high color purity. The three betaxanthins had higher pigment retention than amaranthine / isomaranthine.
• Anti-Diabetic: Study of alcoholic extract of Celosia argentea seeds showed anti-diabetic activity in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

Availability
Wild-crafted.
Commercially: Seeds in the cybermarkets.
 

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Celosia argentea cristata / Plants For A Future
(2)
Chemical Stability and Colorant Properties of Betaxanthin Pigments from Celosia argentea / Yizhong Cai et al / J. Agric. Food Chem., 2001, 49 (9), pp 4429–4435 • DOI: 10.1021/jf0104735
(3)
Anti-diabetic Activity of Alcoholic Extract of Celosia argentea LINN. Seeds in Rats / Thangarasu Vetrichelvan et al / Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin • Vol 25 (2002), 526-528 / doi:10.1248/bpb.25.526

Chinese Names / http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/names/Plants-CN-X-0001.html

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